


Your Song

by palluratron



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Adam is Joining the Conspiracy Team, Everyone Is Gay, F/F, F/M, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, He Loves His Rock, Heartbroken Allura (Voltron, M/M, Pidge (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Pidge Is Katniss Everdeen, Pining Pidge | Katie Holt, Romelle and Pidge are Platonic Girl-Space-Friends, except Hunk, sorry I don't make the rules - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-03
Updated: 2018-08-15
Packaged: 2019-06-20 15:17:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15537081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/palluratron/pseuds/palluratron
Summary: Becoming the face of a rebellion is something only book heroines do, and Pidge is certainly no book character. So naturally, she's more than a little sceptical about faking her own death to become a martyr for the cause. Staying on earth while the war's still going strong? No, why would she do that?Because as usual, everyone else thinks it's a fabulous plan.Really, they all just want a vacation.





	1. pretty pink flower

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Pidge, crushes are perfectly normal, there's nothing-”
> 
> “NO SHIRO, we are NOT having this conversation.”
> 
> “Katie-”
> 
> “You know what'd be great right now? Listening to Keith and Lance yelling sexual tension infused road trip songs over the top of each other, hmm?”
> 
> “Katrina Elise Holt, don't you dARE-”
> 
> Pidge slams her hand down on the public coms button, and the lion is filled with Keith and Lance's yelling once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After listening to Elton John at 1 am the other day, I decided to write a season 7 fic about the team's return to earth and Pidge pining over Allura. The sort of story I have the drive to write ;)  
> The perspective in this story is mostly Pidge, but there will be little bits from the others, and a fair bit of Allura later on  
> It's my first fanfic on this account, so hopefully I didn't do too terribly

“THIRTY-ONE BOTTLES OF BABIES BLOOD ON THE WALL, THIRTY-ONE BOTTLES OF BLOOD-”

“THE EXHAUST PIPES ON THE BUS GO POLLUTE POLLUTE POLLUTE, POLLUTE POLLUTE POLLUTE, POLLUTE POLLUTE POLLUTE.”

Pidge groans in frustration. At the start of their road-trip across the known universe, Keith and Lance, being, well, Keith and Lance, had decided to get into an argument about the best song for their inter-galactic road trip. Keith, having only been on one road trip when he was five years old, had voted for Wheels on the Bus. Lance, the dude who's family went on bi-yearly road trips across Cuba, had decided the most fun option would be to come up with continuously more outrageous versions of Beer on the Wall. Pidge, though she tried with all her might, could not stop them. Hunk had even joined in towards the start of the road trip- providing Lance with extra volume over Keith, but had dropped out after half an hour of it.

Lance, however, had not.

“TAKE ONE DOWN, PASS IT AROUND, NOW THERE'S THIRTY BOTTLES OF BLOOD ON THE WALL!”

“Fucking STOP!” Pidge screamed, but Lance and Keith only sung louder. Growling, Pidge bitterly hit the off button on the coms, resolving to, once again, sit in silence. She felt a pat on her shoulder, and weakly turned her head to see Shiro smiling sympathetically. She made a half-assed attempt to smile back.

“You know, I wouldn't hate them too much,” Shiro mused, looking out the windshield to see the red lion doing loops around black. “This is their way of reconnecting, after being away from each other for so long.”

Pidge scrunched up her nose in disgust.

“You mean this is these fruit loops's variation of makeup sex?”

Shiro chuckled, keeping his hand on the green paladin's shoulder.

“Basically. They'll never admit it.”

“Ya got that right,” Pidge murmured, as the black lion hurled itself into the red lion, red veering off towards a nearby asteroid.

Through her control mirror, she sees Shiro open his mouth to speak again, but a song playing cuts him off. It's not an earth song, sadly, but it's an alien song that vaguely reminds her of “Your Song” by Elton John. She knows it's Allura requesting to speak with her through the coms. Blushing, Pidge looks over at the small flower she set to appear on a holo-screen for the blue lion. It's pretty, pink and exactly like Allura. Shiro observes this, before giving Pidge a Look in the viewing mirror.

“Speaking of lovebirds-”

“Oh, shut up,” she mutters, quickly pressing the accept button before Shiro can make any more subtle remarks.

Allura's face pops up on the holographic screen, dismayed look and all. Pidge desperately tries to regain any and all composure.

“Hey, princess,” she says, voice way too low to be considered natural.

“Hello Pidge. My, we sure do have some great singers on team Voltron.”

Pidge giggles. Oh shit, she giggled. Katie Holt, paladin of the green lion, does not giggle. 

Allura didn't seem to pick up on that, and if she did, it didn't effect her. She glances at Shiro, standing behind Pidge. A look of genuine concern overtakes her face.

“Shiro, how is your arm doing? I know I checked in not too long ago, but if anythings wrong...”

“No, no, princess, my arm's fine,” Shiro says with a sheepish grin, “it's feeling great, actually.”

Pidge feels her expression sour a little. Oh, of course Allura called to check on Shiro. Not like she'd actually want to talk to Pidge, of all people. Just checking up on the hot, injured, oh-so-pained space dad. Playing nurse. Or maybe she's playing house wife. The thought sends a ripple of discomfort through Pidge. 

On the screen, Romelle pops into view. She's frowning, and quite severely. Narrowing her eyes, she looks somewhere off screen.

“Are they always like that?”

Pidge glances back out the window to see the red and black lions chasing each other, practically an entire AU ahead of the others. She laughs dryly.

“Well, they used to be. Keith left to be an emo anime protagonist on his journey of self discovery, and they haven't seen each other in phoebes. Shiro and I were just saying how this is their own way of makeup sex,” Pidge adds. Romelle's brow furrows in confusion.

“Makeup... sex? What's that?” Pidge blanches, eyes darting to Allura, who's expression remains neutral, then back to Romelle, who looks confused by the reaction. 

Fuck, no, Pidge was not going to explain sex to this alien in front of the girl she... admired. Allura had learnt just about all there was to learn about human biology- the complexity of it all fascinated her to no end- but the thought of actually talking about sex with her? HELL no, she was NOT going down that road. 

Before she can have a full blown panic attack, Shiro steps in, calmly remarking,

“Oh, it's the human reproduction process. It's also an activity many couples choose to engage in.”

God bless that man. Romelle's eyes widen. 

“Reproduction process? Wow, I wasn't aware humans had a reproduction process,” she says excitedly, “I'm... intrigued. How, exactly, does it work?”

“Well, you see, when two humans love each other-” Shiro starts, but Pidge's brain goes into crisis mode, and she shoots out a hand to cover his mouth.

“NO. Romelle, you can get Shiro to explain the birds and the bees to you later, but NOT while I'm around.”

Romelle looks even more confused.

“Birds... bees? Does human reproduction involve... different species?!” 

Pidge wants to die. She's so ready to die. Shiro's shaking with barely contained laughter. Romelle looks exactly like Pidge did when her dad explained to her that the ground they stood on was a huge rock floating in empty space. Pidge quickly looks over at Allura. Her expression is thoughtful, and she's looking right at Pidge, a subtle curiosity gracing her features. 

That's the final straw.

“Ok, well, it was fun chatting with you guys, haha, sorry to leave so soon princess, Romelle- but we gotta go-”

Allura reaches out her hand.

“Pidge, wait-”

Pidge slams her hand down on the disconnect call button, and the screen instantly disappears. Shiro instantly lets out the howl he's been holding in, and dissolves into a pile of screeching on the green lion's floor. Pidge glares at him in annoyance, and green gives a growl to express her displeasure at their passenger. 

Wiping tears from his eyes, Shiro shakily gets to his feet, holding onto the pilot chair for support. After finally calming down, Shiro meets Pidge's eyes. His expression softens a little.

“... anything you'd like to talk about?”

Pidge huffs, staring determinedly out the window. She will not sit through a conversation with Shiro about her maybe-crush on the princess, no sirree.

“Pidge, if you like Allura-”

“NOPE, nope nope nope nope nOPE-”

“Pidge, crushes are perfectly normal, there's nothing-”

“NO SHIRO, we are NOT having this conversation.”

“Katie-”

“You know what'd be great right now? Listening to Keith and Lance yelling sexual tension infused road trip songs over the top of each other, hmm?”

“Katrina Elise Holt, don't you dARE-”

Pidge slams her hand down on the public coms button, and the lion is filled with Keith and Lance's yelling once more. Though this time, they're singing earth songs over each other.

“THE ANSWERRRR MY FRIEND, IS BLOWINNNN IN THE WIND-”

“NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA AAA-”

Over the reminiscent emo music, Pidge hears Shiro sigh in exasperation. She feels bad for him. Poor old man has had to look after five teenagers and an eccentric alien for a whole ass year. They should really cut him some slack.

“REMEMBER WHEN YOU WERE A MADMAN, THOUGHT YOU WAS BATMAN, HIT THE PARTY WITH A GAS CAN-” 

“KISS ME YOU ANIMAL!” they yell, Keith finally giving into his emo self. A loud, drawn out gasp is heard over the intercom, a quiet “fuck” alongside it. Lance whoops in celebration.

“I wIN-”

"ONLY BECAUSE YOU CHEATED!"

"HOW WAS THAT CHEATING?!"

"IT JUST-" Keith fumbles for a minute, before continuing, "IT JUST IS."  
“You're both fucking gay,” Pidge interjects, and a choking, Hunk-like noise can be heard, as the coms fall brutally silent. 

No one speaks. Not Lance. Not Keith. Not even Kaltenecker's loud moos can be heard.

Finally, from behind the pilots chair, Pidge hears a quiet, “can... you feel, the love, tonight....”

Suddenly, it's as if everything somehow got even quieter. Shiro stands behind her, mortified. So obviously, Pidge crys out when she hears Hunk's voice continue the song with enthusiasm.

“THE PEACE THE EVENING BRINGS~”

Pidge's mouth stretches into a grin.

“THE WORLD FOR ONCE, IN PER-FECT-HARMONY~” she sings, muscle memory taking over.

“WITH ALL IT'S LIVING THINGS~” the three howl in unison.

“OH, FUCK YOU,” Lance spits, “I'm turning OFF my coms, see you fucking Disney nerds LATER.”

The trio burst into laughter.

“Ok... so, I'm obviously not- supporting this behaviour,” Keith stutters, “but that- was kind of legendary.”

“Indeed,” Allura chuckles. Pidge's heart flutters gently. Uh, SHE did that. SHE MADE ALLURA LAUGH, OH MY GOD-

“Uh... that was... interesting,” Krolia speaks up, reminding everyone of her presence in the black lion, “but I would like to inform you that we'll be arriving at the milky way in about 2 vargas.”

“WHAT,” Lance shrieks over the coms. Clearly, he couldn't stay quiet for too long.

“Oh my God,” Pidge mutters to herself. Her stomach is starting to twist into knots of panic. They're... going home. She's going to see her family: mom, dad, bae bae, auntie Cherise and her cousin Krista- ok, wow-

“This is... a lot,” Pidge says softly. 

“DAMN FUCKING RIGHT IT IS!” Lance whoops, “I'M GOING HOME!!! Oh my God, I get to see my family- and Varadero! It's right there, waiting for me!”

“I'm glad everyone's excited,” Keith interjects, “but there's the small question of where do we land.”

It goes quiet for a moment. Lance speaks slowly, “On... earth?”

“I mean, Keith, that's kinda the point,” Hunk adds. Keith sighs in frustration.

“Yes, but do you really think anyone on earth is going to react positively to five giant robot cats landing on the planet? We'll be shot down by the military or some shit.”

“Ok, that's a good point,” Pidge concedes, “but it's alright, we have a plan... right, team leader?”

Before Keith can suggest some ridiculous last minute idea, Allura chimes in.

“Yes, Pidge is correct. We organized this a while back. We've decided to land on the neighbouring planet of Mars, which, luckily, is orbiting close enough to your earth for us get there using our speeders.”

“Ohhhhh,” Lance breathes. 

“Yeah,” Keith agrees. Pidge perks up.

“Guys- we're going to Mars! Man, I always wanted to go to Mars. Like, sure, we explored the whole universe, but we never got to see any of the planets in our own solar system! This is gonna be so lit,” she grins. Allura laughs.

“Yes, I agree. I'm excited to learn all about your solar system, and the earthling's culture.”

Pidge blushes, and before she can stop herself, she says, “Oh, yeah princess, our cultures super impressive. I'll happily teach you all about it.”

“... really?” Allura says softly, and Pidge's heart starts sprinting a mile a minute.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fUCK SHE DIDN'T MEAN TO SAY THAT GO BACK GO BACK ABORT MISSION-

“Uh- yeah! Totally, I'll be your own personal tour guide,” she rambles, “trust me, 'Lura, you'll be so impressed- aha, the earth is really cool.”

“ 'Lura'?” Lance says over the coms, voice sounding just a little off. Pidge's brow creases.

“... yeah? Y'know- Allura, 'Lura? It's a nickname,” she deadpans. Lance huffs over the com.

“Not a very good one,” he mutters.

“Lance, stop being a jealous asshole,” Keith shoots. Lance splutters.

“J-jealous?! Of Pidge?! Uh, yeah, gonna have to say no.”

“Wow, no need to be so brutal,” Pidge says, a little hurt.

“Yeah, Lance. Not cool,” Hunk agrees.

“Look- whatever. Sorry, I guess.”

…

…

…

“...”

“... maybe we should try to get some rest,” Shiro suggests. 

“I agree! With, uh, Shiro,” Romelle pipes up. Pidge relaxes, smiling gratefully at the man behind her. He smiles back, mouthing 'no problem'.

“Yeah, good call. See you guys then,” Keith says flatly. His com disconnects.

“... later,” Lance speaks.

“See you on Mars, everyone!” Hunk tries to say cheerfully. No one comments.

“Alright, I'm heading to the bunk. Join me when you're ready, Allura,” Romelle calls. 

“Bye, Pidge, princess,” Shiro smiles, squeezing Pidge's shoulder before exiting the cockpit. Shiro's absence, all too conveniently, leaves just Allura on Pidge on the line.

Pidge is hesitant to disconnect the coms. On the one hand, they should be getting some rest.

On the other...

“Well, Pidge, as much as I'd love to hear all about earth from you right now, I suppose I should... retire, as well...”

Even as Allura says the words, there's a question hanging in the air. And suddenly, Pidge is feeling brave, so before she can stop herself, she blurts out, 

“Well, I mean, I'm not really that tired, so unless you are, I'd love to tell you all about our culture.”

“Really?!”

“Yeah! Totally!” Pidge says, butterflies that are both nervous and excited brushing around in her stomach. 

“Well, alright then! I'm going to request a video call with you.. is that alright?”

Pidge blushes. Oh boy, would she survive that? A private video call, with just her and the princess.

“... yeah. Let's do it!”

So when the strange Altean song begins to play, Pidge doesn't hesitate to press accept.

\----------------------

“I can't believe the trip from Earth to Mars is even longer than the trip from Neptune!” Lance complains, sitting in the passenger seat of the black speeder. Keith sighs.

“Yes, Lance, because we were going faster than the speed of light in the lions. Our cruisers, on the other hand, aren't that fast.”

Lance groans, hitting his head on the console. Keith would be mad- should be mad, that Lance is being a whiny little shit as always, but honestly, Keith is just glad to be around someone his age again. 

… especially Lance.

He missed the stupid jerk, ok? You would too if you didn't see your one source of stability for 2 years. He was glad to have reconnected with his mom, and he wouldn't give back that time on the space whale with her for anything, but... he'd missed Lance's annoying smirks, and relentless teasing, and gentle concern, and those rare moments when he was serious and his entire demenour went from cute boy to goregeous leader-

Ah, fuck, no. He wasn't revisting... that. Crushes on cocky sharpshooter only ever lead to disapointment.

Trust Keith; he knew.

And so, he didn't notice the small tilt of the corners of Lance's mouth as he glanced out the window at the ever-growing speck that was their planet. Yeah... that didn't happen. Ever.

Frowning ever so slightly, Keith looks ahead, at the circle on the horizon. Geez, how long since he'd been back there again? Three years? That's... quite a while. How much has changed?

“I mean, there'll probably be a new Top Hit TM,” Lance answers, and Keith realized he actually said that last part out loud. Wow. Accidental conversation starter. Introvert goals, huh.

“And I guess there'll be a tonne of new memes for me and Pidge to spend hours cackling at. Ooh! And we'll get to see who became the new Prez of the States,” Lance laughed, “my bet is anyone but Trump.” His face falls a little, and Keith's immediate reaction is to beat up whatever made that smile weaken even the tiniest ounce.

“I... wonder if my family will be any different. If there'll be any new additions, or... if anyone passed,” he says quietly. 

Keith's stomach drops to his toes. Had Lance... been thinking about that? Worried someone in his family won't be there when he gets back??

Suddenly, Keith feels the strangest urge to comfort him. Make him better. It's... familiar, but the memory has weakened with age. 

But, maybe he can still try.

“Hey,” he says carefully, “I know there's going to be some changes you won't be happy about, but... think about the good ones. Whatever those may be. You have a big- no, huge family, right? Well, when you get back to earth, think of all the stories they'll have to tell- and you get to tell them about your time in space!”

Lance cracks a smile. “Yeah...” 

“And, and-” Keith continues, heart speeding up a little, overcome with a strange urge to fill the silence left by this boy's sadness, “imagine all of the amazing things you can teach them, about space, robots, alien girls!”

Lance snorts. “Yeah, V would probably loveee an alien girlfriend. Or just a girlfriend, really.”

Keith's smile widens a little. “well, hook her up with Romelle or something! Or one of those mermaids you were always bragging about.”

At that, Lance laughs, and instantly Keith's at ease. Lance being anything but happy is NOT allowed anymore. Allura had said he hasn't been on his A-game of late, and if Keith can, he will do just about anything to change that.

“You know, I missed you, mullet,” Lance muses, looking beside him at the dorky alien guy he used to hold on a crush-infused pedestal. Keith looks back, and they stay like that for a moment, a small moment of significance for them both.

Turns out, it's true what they say. You don't always have to say “I love you”, to say, I love you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Klance? In MY good Pallura shipping neighbourhood???  
> It's more likely than you think ;)))  
> If anyone's reading this: thank you! I hope you enjoyed my spontaneous gay combustion. Feel free to leave a comment or kudos if you liked this chapter!


	2. why sunrise's aren't blue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Romelle and Pidge deserve a strong platonic girl-space-friendship, and since they probably won't ever interact on-screen because Voltron seems to have forgotten female friendships exist, this is the fic where they do

When Pidge agreed to ferry Romelle from Mars to Earth, as a way to switch up passengers, she really hadn't expected much- just a dumb blonde, being dumb and blonde, stinking up her transport with her dumb blondness, and she'd spend the whole time wishing she'd gone with Keith, or Hunk, or literally anyone else except Romelle.

That wasn't the case.

“NO! You are not serious!” Romelle shrieks, Pidge doubled over in laughter besides her. Struggling to form a sentence, Pidge gasps out, “No, I am, I really am- Lance had a family photo in his dorm, and, and- he actually had a bowl cut.”

Romelle practically falls off her chair as the two of them laugh their hearts out, clutching their stomachs and kicking at air.

Finally, Pidge manages to calm herself down. 

“Man, you are really fun to hang out with,” she chuckles.

Romelle beams at her. “As are you! It's rare to find someone willing to discuss advanced science and then gossip about terrible decisions made by our teammates.”

They look at each other for a moment, before bursting into cackles again.

Wiping tears from the corners of her eyes, Pidge speaks again, “Seriously though. You're really cool.”

Smiling gently, Romelle nods. “Likewise. But, that's what girlfriends are for.”

Pidge pales. “oh- uh- um, I mean? I'm flattered, but uh.... humans don't consider this.. dating?”

Romelle looks at her oddly, before it clicks. “Ohhhh, oh no,” she giggles, “I meant girlfriends, as in platonic girl-space-friends.”

Pidge's eyes widen, and her face goes red. “Oh! Shiz, of course, haha, I'm- I'm sorry.”

“It's quite alright. My phrasing could've used some adjusting.”

“No, no, it's really fine. It's just... I've never really had a platonic girl-space-friend, y'know? I didn't have many friends growing up, period, and even with Voltron, all my friends are dudes,” Pidge rolls her eyes, “though Lance is honestly more of a girl than I'll ever be.”

Romelle looks at her quizzically. Pidge stares back.

“... what.”

“Oh, nothing really, I just- I assumed you and Allura were fairly close. Platonic girl-space-friends, if you may.”

Andddd she's blushing again.

“Oh, no, I- uh, wouldn't say that...”

“Without the platonic space?”

Pidge blanches, head whipping up to meet Romelle's knowing gaze. Quickly darting her eyes away, Pidge splutters out an answer.

“Noooo, wh-what? Me and the princess? Ha, yeah, that's... that's a little far off...” 

Raising an eyebrow at her, Romelle smirks purposely. Admitting defeat, Pidge sinks low into her seat. 

Romelle sighs, leaning over to place a hand on her new friend's shoulder.

“Listen, Pidge. I really do see a connection, between the two of you. Maybe you don't, but I think just about everyone else does,” Romelle smiles sympathetically. “From what I've gathered, something on Allura's end seems to be- blocking your relationship developing? The whole thing with the purple man.”

“Lotor?”

“Yes, him. She's... not over him, is she?”

“Nope...”

“That... really sucks,” Romelle frowns, “my first girlfriend was taken by the same man for quintessence."

Pidge glances over at her. There's sadness in her once cheerful expression. Losing your entire family must do that to a person.

Pidge had come close to that before.

“That's rough, buddy.”

“Indeed,” Romelle nods. 

They sit for a while, in a silence of mutual understanding. Glancing besides her, Pidge really is greatful to have a cool platonic girl-space-friend like Romelle. She'd... needed that, for a while now.

\---------------

“EARTH'S IN SIGHT, BUCKLE UP KIDS!” Lance hollers over the close range coms of the pods. A whoop is heard from Hunk, with a quiet “yay” from Keith.

“Alright team, brace yourselves. Breaching the atmosphere in these light weight transports won't exactly be a piece of cake,” Shiro warns them.

“Yeahiddy yeah, blahdy blah blah, let's go!” Lance hypes.

“Yeah baby!” Hunk cheers. 

“Good luck guys,” Keith says.

“May the force be with yoUUUUU-” Pidge yells, the gravity of earth grabbing hold of the pod. She and Romelle are both strapped in securely, but her stomach drops completely as they begin to hurtle towards the planet.

Everyone's screaming on the coms. Pidge will swear to her dying days Shiro yelled the fuck-word. Lance is chanting the lyrics to hollaback girl- something he does a lot in stressful situations.

The noise is chaotic until they cut out due to the interference. They chose to come in at night, so they were unlikely to be seen by anyone, and the moon's glow is legendary.

“QUIZACK, QUIZACK, QUIZACKKKK-” Romelle screams at the top of her lungs.

“OH HOLY MOTHERFUCKERS-” Pidge swears.

Their pod is heating up, and this is probably one of the more risky parts of the operation. There's a one in a billion chance someone will die, but they're likely to suffer from burns. Entering earth's atmosphere in light crafts used to travel short distances and withstand minimal pressure? Not the safest idea. But, it was a risk they needed to take.

After a minute of this, the heat dies down, and the temperature in the pod starts dropping rapidly. Now without the immeasureable force of earth's gravity slinging them in, they're simply beginning to fall, without any direction of where they'll land.

“Shit shit shit,” Pidge mutters to herself. She knows the plan is to wait until they're at 500 feet to regain control of the shuttle- activating the boosters before then would essentially be waving a big “look at me!” flag- but damn, is it tempting to just stop them now. They'd done this drill thousands of times before. She shouldn't be worried.

But she is.

Eyes glued to the altimeter, she watches as they start to fall through the clouds, at exactly 15,000 feet. Just 10,000 more.

What if the engines are fried? Penetrating the atmosphere had to have melted something.

Pidge is beginning to panic, and the clock is ticking. 

9000\. 8000. 

Her patience is waning- what if the altimeter's wrong?

7000\. 6000.

Cold, hard fear is replacing the white hot adrenaline of the plummet. There's no way that nothing melted and, consequently, broke the entire system.

5000\. 4000.

Fuck, how could she explain this to her mom? 'Fell out of the sky in a metal space ship with my platonic girl-space-friend, probably killed us both'. 

3000\. 2000.

Will she die here? God, imagine that: die right before landing back on earth. She's so fucking close to her home, to Illinois, to her family-

But this where she makes or breaks it.

When the altimeter hits 1000 ft, time slows. Pidge doesn't look away from the dashboard. She can't. That would, essentially, be suicide. She wraps both her hands firmly around the controls, prepared to jerk up at any...

500 ft.

sECOND.

She seizes the controls. Pulling up with all her might, the booster rockets flare, and Romelle and her gain about 25 feet, before slowly floating down to earth. 

Pidge doesn't let out her breath until they're planted firmly on the ground.

\-----------------

Pushing open the door of the shuttle, Pidge stares in wonder as she realises- it's raining. Cool, refreshing droplets of water are falling to earth. Pidge wonders if this is God's way of welcoming them home.

Stepping out of the pod in a daze, her shoe connects with the soft dirt. Slowly, Pidge looks down at her feet.

And, like some crazy, comedic movie character, Pidge falls to her hands and knees and kisses the earth.

None of the paladins question that. They have their own ways of celebration. Hunk shrieks in joy, before jumping into a puddle on the ground, splashing muddy water all over himself. Shiro jumps out of the yellow transport, a look of wonder on his face as he turns in circles, taking in the scenery all around him. Krolia has her hand on Keith's shoulder as he stands beside Lance, who's staring up at the sky with tears in his eyes, and a smile on face.

Pidge lifts her head from the dirt, stretching her neck to look directly upwards. Raindrops splash on her glasses, misting them up, and so Pidge reaches her hand out, slowly, to remove the wire framed spectacles she'd been wearing for so long.

They're home.

\---------------

“You guys are the fucking best,” Lance sobs into Keith's shoulder, the latter awkwardly holding him in his arms. Hunk grins at his friend, tears running down his own face. 

“It's only fair, buddy. You deserve to see your family more than any of us. But that doesn't mean I'm waiting more than two days to hug my moms and sisters.”

“Likewise,” Pidge says, “totally down to go meet your huge Cuban family, but then I'm heading straight back home to Champaign to see my parents.”

“That's a good plan,” Shiro agrees, “we spend a couple of days in Varadero, at least until Coran arrives with Matt, and then split up to see our families. I'll be taking Pidge to see her parents, and Hunk, your family are already on their way here.”

Hunk's grin stretches even wider, and Lance quite literally jumps with joy.

"YES, I get to see my second and thirds moms too!" he shrieks happily, jumping into Hunk's arms, the two laughing joyously about seeing their whole family. But as they're celebrating Keith steps forward, a puzzled look on his face.

“What? You're going with Pidge? But Shiro, you've got family too.”

Everyone looks at the former black paladin in shock. Shiro winces.

“No, Keith, I don't. Not any more.”

“Yes, you do,” Keith insists, “Adam Patel ring any bells?”

“Wait... Adam Patel... do you mean Officer Patel? From- from the Garrison?!” Pidge exclaims.

Shiro groans, but Keith ignores him.

“Yeah, him. He's Shiro's-”

“Friend. Adam is my... friend. But, families are more important than old friends,” Shiro smooths over, “and so I'll be escorting Pidge to Champaign instead.”

Keith looks ready to protest, but the look Shiro gives him apparently changes his mind, as he turns away sullenly.

Pidge narrows her eyes at the man. Why is Shiro being so secretive about his “friend”? And why did Keith even bring him up in the first place?

"Ok... but what about your other family? In Japan?"

Shiro's smile returns. "Oh... well, as much as I'd love to go home to Japan to see them, they're actually staying in a hotel near the Holt's residence at the moment. Sam filled them in on the situation, and they flew out a few days ago."

Pidge's jaw drops.

"I... get to meet the legendary Takashi Shirogane's PARENTS?! Man, I can hear all your embarrassing childhood stories!" she says excitedly. Shiro blanches.

"Oh, well, I mean, there aren't many," he stutter, "you probably won't want to-"

"YOU BETTER TELL ME ALL OF THEM, PIDGE!" Hunk hollers.

“Ok,” Lance speaks up, “I love that Shiro had a childhood, but- can I please go hug my mom now?” 

 

Turns out, Lance's hug may be harder to achieve than they thought. Despite calculating exact altitude's and angles, they ended up somewhere that isn't Varadero beach, so they opt to camouflage the speeders and seek civilisation, taking the few supplies they brought, and bringing out their flashlights. 

Again, harder to achieve than they thought.

“Fucking hell Lance, how big is Cuba?” Keith hisses, swatting at a gnat that's buzzing around his head. It had stopped raining about half an hour ago, and now Jesus was cranking up the humidity. Allura's thick white hair had puffed up into a fluffy white cloud, and Pidge was tempted to just press her face into it and let it absorb her. Maybe she could fake trip into her back? She'd probably drop her torch, though.

What a stupid excuse.

“Oh, I don't know Keith, Cuba sized?” Lance shoots back. 

Keith glares at him for a second, before faltering and cracking a small smile.

“'Cuba sized'?”

“Sh-shut up.”

“Why is your earth so hotttt,” Romelle whines, fanning herself with her folded tunic. She took it off long ago, to reveal some form of sleeveless Altean undergarment. No one had commented on it.

“I mean, it's not as hot as it could be,” Lance defends. “It's like, what, 2 am?”

“1:43 am,” Pidge corrects absentmindedly. Lance waves a hand around.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. What I mean is: this is actually the colder time of day for us.”

“Colder?!” Romelle shrieks. Pidge can't help but giggle at her platonic girl-space-friend's outburst, Gee, the Altean colony must've been arctic, for her to find this hot.

“Yeah, I don't know about you guys, but I'm freezing over here,” Hunk shivers.

“It's fucking icy Romelle, are you insane,” Keith growls, but softly. Pidge can tell he and Krolia care for Romelle deeply. They're both so gentle with her, like they're scared to make her upset. Pidge finds that behaviour a tad overprotective, but she understands it. If anyone tried to hurt one of her brothers, be it Matt, Lance or Hunk, she'd fuck them up real quick.

“It's not terrible,” Shiro ponders, “Kanazawa got down to a 5 degree average in winter.”

“Kanazawa?” Hunk questions. Shiro nods.

“Yeah. It's a city in Japan. I grew up there, with my great aunt Reika and her sons Asahi and Kei. I moved to Arizona when I was 18,” Shiro murmurs. Lance's jaw drops.

“No way... you do have a tragic anime backstory!”

Shiro frowns.

“How is any of that... tragic? Or anime, for that matter. Just because I'm Japanese, doesn't mean I'm an anime character-”

“NO, but you lived with your aunt, and not your parents. So...?” Lance prods.

Shiro immediately turns cold.

“I'd rather not think about it.”

The joking manner is gone again. 

“Look... guys. It's really late. It's nighttime. We've been wandering around for hours. Let's.. stop until sunrise, alright?” Shiro says carefully. There are murmurs of assent from the other team members.

“Dibs on Keith,” Lance calls out, causing everyone to look over at him. His eyes widen.

“No, not like- you guys are so dirty. I meant as like, camping buddies, y'know?”

“I thought I'd be your camping buddy,” Hunk sulks. Lance claps a hand on his shoulder.

“Sorry bud. Next time, definitely. Let's go, Keith.”

“Do I get a say in this...?” Keith wonders, Lance grabbing his elbow and pulling him along, chuckling.

“Nope, mullet.”

Krolia frowns. 

Sighing, Allura reaches into the pack she's dropped to her feet. “At least set up a tent. I doubt you'd like to sleep on the ground.”

Lance stops, spinning around to catch the small blue square of fabric. They'd used them before, on overnight missions, and so everyone's aware of how they work. Throw it to the ground, hard, and it'll spring up into shape. 

“Well... if we're, uh, 'dibsing' people, Hunk, how about you come with me?” Pidge suggests. Hunk nods. 

“Yeah, ok. That leaves 3 tents for you guys,” he tells the other four. Romelle perks up, smiling at Krolia.

“Well, I am dibbising Krolia!” she grins. Krolia smiles back fondly. Pidge wonders for a moment that maybe Romelle sees Krolia as a motherly figure. After all, Romelle's actual mother is long gone, and Krolia seems the motherly type, and after losing Keith for so long, she seems completely ready to take someone under her wing. The thought gives Pidge a warm feeling in her heart.

“I'd like that. We'll set up over... near Lance and Keith,” her eyes narrow, looking over at where Lance is repeatedly stepping on the tent in an attempt to make it work. 

“Alright. Well, Allura and Shiro can take a tent each. Makes sense, cause you're the oldest and she's... a princess,” Pidge reaches out for any excuse to get Allura and Shiro in DIFFERENT tents.

“Oh. Well, great,” Shiro nods, “We should stay relatively close together, and of course set up a watch rotation.” 

“I'll take first watch,” Allura says immediately. Pidge snaps her head to look at her. She'd been awfully quiet for a while now, only stepping in to provide the tents, and something about that was... off. She'd've expected Allura to be excited about exploring a new place: instead, she'd been radio silent.

Looking closer now, Pidge notices Allura has light bags under her eyes, which wouldn't be unusual, except for the fact that they'd all been getting a lot more sleep over the past week than they had in a while. 

… so why did Allura look so tired? 

\----------

After taking the second watch shift, Hunk shook her awake in the early hours of the morning, mumbling something like “your turn” before passing out on the space sleeping bag-cocoon thing they'd laid out. Pidge forces herself awake, yawning briefly before getting up and padding out of the tent's entrance.

In the east, the sky is beginning to lighten, spilling shades of orange and red onto the dark horizon. Pidge reaches into her shirt pocket for her glasses. She pushes them onto her face, and as usual, nothing looks any different. She'd never needed them; in fact, they'd worsened her vision until she'd adjusted the lenses. But they reminded her of Matt, so she always kept them with her.

Perching on the tree stump on the outskirts of their setup, Pidge rests her head in her palm. She's tempted to just fall asleep again. But then the group would be defenceless, and she couldn't risk that.

Even though she knows this, she must've started nodding off because she completely jumps out of her skin at the sound of someone speaking.

“Earth mornings are quite lovely.”

“ahhHAIEYA,” Pidge jolts upright, blinking in confusion at the blurry silhouette in front of her. They jump too, before rushing forwards, stooping down to Pidge's level.

“Oh! Pidge, I'm so sorry, did I startle you? That really wasn't my intention, oh my,” Allura rambles, pushing a messy strand of hair out of her face. She's wearing a loose purple dress, with what appears to be Lance's jacket draped around her shoulders.

“N-no, princess, I'm- very fine,” she stutters, aiming her gaze down into her lap. Fuck, she looks really pretty like this. But why's she wearing LANCE'S jacket? Isn't that a girlfriend/boyfriend thing? She knew Lance had some crazy obsessed crush on the princess, but they weren't ACTUALLY dating. 

... right? 

Allura straightens up, before walking over to sit on the rock situated to the left of Pidge. She lets out a soft sigh, the sound ghosting over Pidge like a wave of silk, getting into every part of her, raising goosebumps on her exposed arms. That sound could save the universe.

“You told me that the sun was beautiful when it rises, but I never really thought it would be to this extent.”

Pidge's mind blanks. How does she respond to that? 'Haha yeah sun hot make sky much color'?

“Yeah,” she finally answers, giving up on intelligence entirely. Allura nods.

They sit in silence for a while.

“... do you want to know why the sunrise looks like that?” Pidge asks cautiously. Would that interest her? Would she already know? Would she... disagree?

“Oh, definitely!” Allura lights up. “Especially from you. You're wonderful at explaining things.”

Stomach fluttering, Pidge laughs nervously.

“Ha, thank you? And, well, basically, the earth is orbiting slowly around the sun, which gives off light, which takes approximately 8 minutes to get here, at it's speed, light speed, obviously.”

Is she rambling? Glancing quickly at Allura, she sees she's listening intently, gazing at Pidge with a smile on her lips. Blush coming back full force, Pidge continues.

“Well, normally the sky is blue, because blue light travels in smaller and shorter waves than other colours. The sunrise, and sunset actually, are red, because within the human eye's range of light, red wave lengths vibrate slower than any other.” 

Pidge looks up at the sky, hair blowing in the breeze.

“So, when the light is travelling a... longer path, through the atmosphere, the blue light gets lost, leaving mostly red and yellow for our eyes to see.”

Allura is staring at her, eyes wide and jaw hanging open.

“That... that's amazing!” she grins at Pidge. “On Altea, we always got our light from the two fluorescent algae-covered crisscrossed bands encircling our planet- that's why our sky was blue. But oh, wow, your earth science is incredible!”

Pidge puffs her chest out at the praise. 

“Yeah, it's pretty lit. But wait until someone tells you about the periodic table.”

“That sounds like a very interesting table,” Allura muses, looking back up at the now light sky. Pidge snorts.

“Yeah, you could say that.”

They're quiet again, watching the sun climb higher in the sky. Wouldn't be long till they'd have to wake the others. Looking over at Allura, Pidge notes that she looks even more tired than she did before. Did she even sleep? She took first watch; then Hunk tagged in and she was relieved of duty... right? 

“Princess.. did you sleep well?” Pidge asks. Shocked expression springing to her features, Allura looks over at Pidge, like a deer in headlights. Pidge feels a little guilty.

“Argh, sorry. I didn't mean to, like, pry or anything,” she mutters, “I'm just... worried. About you, y'know? You've been a little... out of it lately.”

Frowning briefly, Allura directs her gaze at her feet. She breathes in once, exhales, and looks back to Pidge with a weak smile.

“It's... quite alright, Pidge. I know you're only looking out for me.”

Pidge doesn't know how to respond to that, so she remains quiet, looking at Allura with what she hopes is a gently concerned expression. 

“... you're right, though,” Allura says quietly. “I haven't been sleeping enough lately.”

“Any particular reason...?” 

“... yes. But I'd prefer not to talk about. At least, not now,” Allura slowly looks up at Pidge. “It's nothing... personal, but I don't feel comfortable discussing it. With anyone, really.”

A twinge of hurt in her stomach, Pidge chokes out a quick laugh.

“That's ok. I understand. You have your reasons, I guess.”

“Yeah,” is all she gets in response.

The new silence stretching between them isn't comfortable or companionable. It's tense, and Pidge feels her stomach churning with nerves. She'd gone too far. She'd wrecked whatever bond they'd been building, and now Allura hated her. She'll never be able to talk to her again.

With that in mind, Pidge stands up, wobbling a little before steadying herself. Without looking behind her, she says softly, “I'll wake the others.”

Allura doesn't respond, so with a saddened sigh, Pidge leaves to get the rest of the team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always head-cannoned Pidge to live in Champaign, Illinois, for whatever reason. And of course, Shiro has a tragic anime backstory- why do you think he's never ONCE brought up his parents? Anywho, that's it from me. Hope that this chapter was enjoyable!


	3. green bracelet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I lost a lot of inspiration for this fic after season 7 came out... but in the end I think it motivated me to continue writing this fic, as a way to get out all my qualms with the season  
> Alright, so in this chapter there is Spanish dialogue. I only speak very basic Spanish, and can write even less. I may have done a terrible job with it. I used an online translator as backup, and I don't know how reliable it is. I tried to keep the dialogue very basic, so I couldn't stuff it up TOO terribly. If you find any of the dialogue to be incorrect- tell me! As I said, I don't speak perfect Spanish, and I in no way want this to come across as offensive

“Is that-” Keith starts, but Lance interrupts.

“QUIZNACK THAT'S A BUILDING.”

“oh my gOD FINALLY!” Hunk shrieks, breaking into a sprint down the hill they've just come to the top of. Whooping for joy, Lance starts running down after him. Pidge whirls around to see Shiro watching with an amused look on his face.

“I'm glad he's happy,” Keith says softly. Shiro raises an eyebrow, but doesn't comment.

“That.. that contains humans, correct?” Romelle asks. Shiro nods.

“We live in them. And, if there's people, then we can find out where the hell we are.”

Romelle lets an “ohhhhhh”, watching Lance vault over a fence, Hunk stopping to swing one leg over gingerly.

Normally, Pidge would be right there completing the trio by ducking under the fence with them, but she's still a little down after her almost-fight with Allura. The girl in question has also been a little quieter than usual- lips pursed, watching with light contempt at the two boys acting like children.

“Well, we better go after them,” Krolia shrugs, “if the person living there's hostile, they'll need protection.”

“They can handle themselves, Krolia,” Keith snaps. 

Again, Shiro looks at him curiously, but stays quiet. Krolia narrows her eyes at her son.

“I suppose. But just in case.” A glint in her eyes, she adds, “besides, I thought you'd want to look out for your... mate.” 

Pidge chokes on air, watching as Keith's face heats up in embarrassment. Romelle's eyes widen.

“Oh, so you and the red paladin are-”

“We're FRIENDS,” Keith insists, “hardly even that- and nothing more. 'Mate', is definitely the wrong word for it.”

Krolia laughs drily. 

“HEY!” Lance calls from the other side of the fence, “ARE YOU GUYS COMING OR WHAT?”

 

Arriving at the front door of the house, they see Lance talking excitedly in a language Pidge recognises as Spanish, to a woman holding a small child. She's smiling brightly, speaking animatedly back, as the child reaches out to Lance, gurgling happily. Hunk chimes in every once in a while, with a few basic sentences. Having known the McClain's his whole life, he'd picked up the language in part.

“Good, you guys are here- everyone, this is Esmeralda. And, wanna know the craziest thing- she's actually a friend of my family!” he grins.

Smiling graciously, Allura steps forward to shake hands with the woman.

“Hola,” she says, “me llamo Allura.”

Something about Allura speaking Spanish is making Pidge feel things. She's not even sure how she knows the language- but it sure is sweet on her ears.

“Hola Allura,” Esmeralda says, her voice high and chiming, “nice to meet her.”

“Ezzie here understands the basics, but she doesn't speak much English,” Lance explains, “y no hablan mucho Español,” he says to Esmeralda, “but I can translate for you both. She has a map we can borrow, and her husband actually owns a minivan rental service, so she can hook up up with transport.” Lance relays everything he just said back to Ezzie in Spanish, and she nods, smirking at the group.

“Really?” Shiro says, shocked by her kindness. Ezzie smiles at him.

“Yes, Lance is family, family Lance is family me,” 

“Ese tipo que,” Keith says, Lance chuckling at his miserable attempt at speaking Spanish. Keith shoots him a look, but Ezzie seems to appreciate the gesture, telling him, “gracias, amante de Lance.”

Lance snaps his head to look at Ezzie, narrowing his eyes. She laughs, turning and gesturing for the group to follow her inside.

Ezzie's home is very cosy: from where they stand in the doorway, they can see a small sitting room, kitchen across the hall, and a spiral staircase beside the door. Ezzie goes straight up the stairs, and Pidge starts to follow behind her. She's a thin woman, with short brown hair, curls springing up here and then.

At the top of the stairs is another, shorter hallway, with three doors: one to the right, one to the left, and a third at the very end. Ezzie walks past the first two, straight to the one at the end. Lance speaks up, telling the group, “like I said earlier, Ezzie's husband runs a minivan rental service, and Ezzie herself is the principal of the local high-school, so they have a study where they do their paperwork and jazz.”

Romelle looks over at Ezzie curiously.

“What's a principal?”

“It's basically the one in charge at a school, which is where earth kids go to learn about the world,” Pidge explains.

“Oh, we had that,” Romelle nods, “we called it 'garlap'. Garlap was a terrible place. They crushed your individuality, and made you work for six vargas, then gave you work for when you should've been allowed free-time.”

Hunk laughs, clapping Romelle on the back.

“That sounds exactly like school.”

Pidge comes to a stop in the doorway to Ezzie's office. On one side, it's pristine and organised, not a hair out of place, and on the other, there doesn't seem to be even a basic comprehension of the word “clean.” Ezzie is searching through a pile of papers on the latter, before grabbing a crumpled map. She hands it Pidge with an apologetic smile. 

“Gracias,” Pidge grins. Ezzie grins back.

They go downstairs after that, and Pidge finds herself sitting on the ground with Ezzie's young son, Pedro. She doesn't like young children- messy, noisy little shits they are- but Pedro's a little different. 

He's two years old, but doesn't speak yet. 'A late bloomer' Ezzie had called him. Pidge feels a little sympathy for them. Her parents told her Matt hadn't spoken till age three, when he'd gone ahead and said “I don't want the broccoli, mommy,” resulting in Sam sobbing and calling for Colleen, who'd run in and hugged her son. 

Obviously, Matt hadn't shut up after that.

“So Pedro,” Hunk says, “what do you like to do for fun?”

Pedro gurgles, before crawling over to a cloth doll laying on the floor. It has ratty red hair, and is wearing a ripped green dress. Pedro points to the doll, and Pidge watches in amusement as Hunk picks it up.

“Oh,” he says, “that's cool.”

Chuckling, Pidge looks over to the kitchen table where everyone is crowded around the map, debating the best route to Varadero. Apparently, they are in the town of Havana, Cuba, and Lance's house is roughly a two hour drive from here. Pidge isn't sure how to feel about spending that long in a cramped space with the rest of the team. The journey in the lions was bad enough.

“Well, there are 8 of us,” Shiro observes, “and I'm the only one who can drive.”

“I can ride a motorcycle,” Keith points out. Lance gasps.

“What?! No way! Oh, c'mon, you are NOT that badass!” 

“I'm not badass,” Keith mumbles, “I just ride a motorbike. That's a stereotype.”

Smiling, Pidge's eyes wonder over to Allura, and she's shocked to see her looking back at her sadly. Allura's eyes widen, and she snaps her head away, and Pidge almost thinks she spots a light blush on her cheeks, but she isn't that hopeful. Fuck, though- Allura was looking at her.

She gets up off the floor, and walks over to the table, standing beside Lance as he continues to tease Keith.

“Let me guess- you smoke too.”

“No?” Keith says, wrinkling up his nose, “do I look like I want lung cancer?”

Lance shrugs.

“Well, no, but now that I know you're a total bad-boy, I can totally see it: leaning against a wall, cigar hanging out of your mouth- whole ass leather jacket and ripped jeans,” he says, spreading his arms to picture the scene.

“Lance, stop being so thirsty,” Pidge snorts. Lance puts his hands up in defence. 

“Hey, even you can admit Keith would look hot in leather.”

Keith practically chokes on his own tongue, face growing hotter. Lance looks embarrassed, looking at his dying friend.

“Look, dude, I'm not- fuck, that was- no homo,” he mutters.

Shiro tries to cover up his laughter with a coughing fit, but no one's fooled.

“Lance, my man, no one's said 'no homo' since like, the 2020's,” Hunk comments, coming to stand with the group, Pedro balanced on his hip, the doll hanging from the young boy's hand.

“Well, y'know,” Lance stutters, “I'm feeling retro, ok?”

“Retro enough to reference an old line rooted deeply in homophobic culture?” Shiro inquires. 

“But I'm not homophobic; no one is anymore, except for supreme assholes like that James guy from the Garrison,” Lance waves his hand around, rolling his eyes. “Plus, I'm bi, so I can say it.”

Keith almost falls over, as everyone looks at Lance in shock.

“Since when are you bi?!” Pidge exclaims. Lance looks taken aback.

“Since- since forever? Wait- didn't you guys know that?!”

“No,” Keith squeaks.

“You've only ever flirted with girls??” Pidge says, phrasing it almost like a question. Lance frowns.

“No I haven't. I hit on all the aliens- mostly ones with long hair, I'll admit- I think I have a thing for that- but there've definitely been male aliens. And some aliens haven't been male OR female!”

“Yeah, I've been here through ALL your crushes- boys, girls, and all that's in between,” Hunk agrees.

“Well, that's great Lance,” Shiro says, smiling kindly. “While some people may think it's appropriate to react shocked upon discovering someone's sexuality.”

He shoots a pointed look at Pidge, who mutters, “sorry, I guess.”

“We all accept you, however you identify. And, I trust none of this comes from some kind of old fashioned prejudice?”

Pidge's eyes go wide.

“Oh, hell no. I'm a huge-ass lesbian. I was just shocked 'cuz Lance never really came up on my gaydar.”

“Yeah, me too,” Keith echoes. His face goes red again. “I mean, I'm not a lesbian- obviously, haha- but- yeah. I'm not homophobic.”

“So as lovely as... THIS is, we do still need to find a way to 'Vearodearo',” Romelle speaks up. Pidge nods.

“Fair point,” she agrees. 

Lance frowns. “Did anyone see where Ezzie went?”

For a moment, Pidge's mind blanks. Then she realises: Ezzie and Allura are gone

There's a slight jolt of uneasiness, before she begins to panic. They were right there a second ago- they can't have just disappeared. Is Allura in danger? Oh God, what if it's the galra. What if Ezzie's actually a murderous pyschopath and is torturing her?!

Running down the porch steps, Pidge's muscles unclench as she sees Allura sitting with Ezzie on a fallen log. Jogging over, Pidge catches the end of a sentence-

“... eres fuerte, con o sin novio. Estarás bien,” Ezzie is saying, holding Allura's hands in hers. Allura nods solemnly, before turning to look at the team. Hovering on the edge of their moment, Pidge feels like she's intruding. And by Allura's disapproving look: she is.

“There you are!” Lance choruses, running up to sling an arm around Pidge's slight shoulders. Allura's eyes narrow slightly, before she shakes her head and stands up.

“Alright team- we've got a meeneeven to rent.”

 

Walking about 3 miles up the road, they come to a small building, with two vans parked in the driveway, next to a sleek black motorcycle. A man comes out the front of the building, smiling in greeting

“¡Hola, clientes! Ezzie, querido, encantador de ti para pasar por,” he says, kissing his wife on the cheek before gently taking Pedro out of her arms to hug his son. Feeling a little nostalgic, Pidge remembers the days she'd go with Matt to visit dad at the Garrison, or mom at the hospital. She and Matt were inseparable back then. And of course: they had been again... but then Matt went off with the rebels, and she started seeing him even less. That had... hurt.

"¿Y quién es este- Lance?!"

"Hey, Pablo," Lance says sheepishly. The man's eyes flare wide.

"Ezzie- it's a ghost! This boy has been dead for two years!" 

"No, no- no soy un fantasma; estuve fuera por un tiempo," Lance insists.

Pablo stares at him in shock; not seeming to comprehend the reality he's been faced with.

"It's... real you?"

"Yeah," Lance says quietly, smiling slightly at the older man. Pablo's mouth stretches wide in a joyous grin.

"Oh my- Lance, oh we thought you DEAD, my oh my- we had no IDEA you return-"

"I know, me too," he says, "but I'm here now."

Pablo sweeps him up in a bone-crushing hug. 

Pidge watches as Lance and Pablo converse with Ezzie- sorting out details, explaining the story- and she can't help but glance over at Allura again. Staring back at her, the princess offers her a small smile, before turning to Hunk as his eyes sparkle with joy.

Pidge grins to herself. Does this mean Allura's forgiven her? Because MAN, that would be nice.

 

After sorting everything out with both Pablo and Ezzie, Lance exchanges near-tearful goodbyes with the family, promising to say hi to the rest of the McClains for them. 

Waiting for Lance to finish up, Pidge once again finds herself looking after Pedro. The boy is as quiet as ever, hands in his lap as he watches Pidge with his big brown eyes. Pidge may not understand the hype behind babies, but she has to admit: this kid is cute.

"So Pedro... got anything to say to your friend Pidge?" 

Pedro continues to stare her down.

"Ok... let's try this," she suggests, "Repeat after me: Pidge is super cool and the superior paladin of Voltron."

Pedro doesn't respond. Instead, he reaches out a hand to the green bracelet Pidge fastened around her wrist. It's a gift from Lance. He made them for Hunk and her, around the time Keith left for the Blade of Marmora.

"You know... just in case we ever get separated," he'd told them nervously, "so you guys don't forget me, or each other."

Pedro seemed to like the bracelet. He clenched and unclenched his chubby fists, looking at Pidge expectantly. She hesitated.

Silly as it may be, she was really attached to this bracelet. She might not always show it- but Lance is one of her favourite people in the universe. She treasures his friendship. And the bracelet was a reminder of that.

"... you wanna try it on?" she asks Pedro. He stares at her blankly.

"... ok."

She unclasps the silver clip gently, frowning a little as she pulls it around Pedro's wrist. It's a little big for him, which makes sense, but his face lights up.

"Green!" 

Pidge giggles, about to respond, but she's cut off by Lance.

"Green? Pedro, what did-"

"Pedro!" exclaims Pablo, rushing forwards to pick up the small boy. "you speak!"

The rest of the group swarms around Pedro, all chattering excitedly. "Oh my God, his first words-" Hunk sobs. Pidge watches, jaw dropped, as everyone fawns over the young boy. There's a warm feeling in her chest. She smiles. Ezzie turns around, scurrying forwards to take Pidge's hands in her own.

“Gracias, Pidge,” Ezzie smiles, “You have touched my heart.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Noah fence but for Sam to marry her, Colleen had to work in SOME kind of scientific field, so she's a doctor in this.  
> Well. Season seven was... something. Little disappointing. At least Hunk got his arc. And Allura and Pidge are toTALLY girlfriends Pallura is THRIVING.  
> Since this was started before season 7, it won't follow the same storyline, but may have similar elements in part


End file.
